USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Sixth congressional district, Maryland V. 2 > Part 50
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The subject of this sketch was born in Pooles- ville, Montgomery County, Md., January 4, 1829, and was educated at Winchester, Va., and Rockville, Md. He studied law in Washington, D. C., and in 1852 went west and settled in Nashville, Tenn., where he still resides. His life has been spent in practicing law, farming and the banking business. He has one son, Richard C. Plater.
EORGE A. DAVIS, an attorney-at-law of Boonsboro, was born near this place in IS53 and has been a resident of this locality dur- ing his entire life. He obtained the rudiments of his education in the public schools of Wash- ington County and under private tutors, and at an early age entered Mercersburg College, at Mercersburg, Pa., from which he graduated in 1876, upon the completion of the regular course of classical and scientific study. Having selected the law as his profession in life, he began its study under Judge (now United States senator) McComas, at Hagerstown, and in 1880 was ad- mitted to the bar of Washington County.
Since beginning in the practice of his profes- sion, Mr. Davis has built up a large clientéle both in Boonsboro and Hagerstown, and has gained a reputation as a successful practitioner and a skilled lawyer, whose knowledge of legal technicalities is profound and extensive. Like every public-spirited citizen should do, he keeps himself posted concerning the issues before the people of the present day. He has made the political question a study and has affiliated him- self with the Republican party, upholding its principles by his influence and his ballot. In 1882 he was a member of the state legislature, and while acting as the representative of this district in the house he upheld all measures for the benefit of his constituents. He takes an act-
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ive part in local, state and national politics and for some time served as a member of the Republi- can state central committee, where his influence was strongly felt. At this writing he is counsel for the board of commissioners of Washington County.
OHN A. HUNTER opened an office in Hagerstown, September 7, 1895, and has since devoted his attention to the business of architecture, meanwhile having gained a reputa- tion as one of the leading men in his chosen oc- cupation in this part of the state. His first com- petition with other architects was at the time plans were being made for the annex to the Bellevue Insane Asylum at Hagerstown, a build- ing that was erected at a cost of $15,000, from plans made by himself, under fair competition with other architects. His originality and skill as an architect, together with the practical na- ture of his plans and drawings, have made him popular among the people and established his reputation in his chosen occupation.
Near the city of Hagerstown Mr. Hunter was born November 16, 1872. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, his great-grandfather having come from the Emerald Island and made settlement in Pennsylvania. The latter's son, William Hun- ter, was a farmer by occupation and followed that calling during the greater part of his life. William B. Hunter, our subject's father, was born in Liberty Township, Adams County, Pa., and came to Washington County, Md., in 1869, being proprietor of a flour mill here until 1876. He then returned to Pennsylvania and settled in Franklin County, near Waynesboro, where he engaged in the milling business. In 1889 he re- tired from active business and removed to Gettys- burg, where he has since resided, being now sixty-eight years of age. In politics he is a Re- publican. His wife, who was Barbara Jane Wil- son, was born in Montgomery County, Md., near Seneca Mills, of Scotch-Irish extraction, and is now fifty-nine years of age.
Spending his boyhood days under the parental roof, the subject of this sketch began to learn the milling business under his father's instruc- tion. He early showed that he possessed a mechanical turn of mind. In 1890 he went to Washington, D. C., and entered the service of the United States Government as a mechanic. Shortly after he entered the services of Charles Edmondson, an extensive builder of the above- mentioned city, to learn practical architecture and construction.
After satisfactorily serving Mr. Edmondson for some time, our subject then found employ- ment with Frank H. Knight, architect and builder. For a number of years he stayed with Mr. Knight, first as a carpenter, then arose to foremanship, during which time he had charge of several large contracts. During these years he was studying architecture and drawing at night school. His untiring efforts were soon rewarded by finding a place in an architect's office. How- ever he was not satisfied with working on a salary; accordingly, as above stated, September 7, 1895, he opened his office in Hagerstown, Md. He gives his attention closely to business and is an untiring worker for his clients' interests.
He has little time for public affairs or politics, though he keeps himself posted on these, and is a supporter of the Republican party at national elections. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order and in religion holds membership with the Presbyterian Church.
00 AVID SHRIVER, JR., the second son of David Shriver, Sr., was born at Little Pipe Creek, Carroll County, Md., April 14, 1769, and died at Cumberland, Md., April 28, 1852. He married Eve Sherman, daughter of Jacob Sherman, of Westminster, Md., who died at Cumberland, Md., August 21, 1854.
At the commencement of his business career he was associated with his brother Andrew in the improvement of the property at Union Mills,
38
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Carroll County, Md. He relinquished his inter- est in the business there in order to accept the appointment of superintendent of the location and construction of the Reisterstown turnpike, reaching northwardly from the city of Baltimore. Upon the completion of this work he was ap- pointed by the government (in 1806) to super- intend the location and construction of the National Road from Cumberland to Wheeling, Va. In this connection he was charged with the disbursement of the money expended in the con- struction of the road.
The sturdy and courageous character of the man is well exemplified by an incident which occurred during this work. He had constructed · an imposing stone arch bridge of rubble stone masonry over the Youghiogheny River at Smith- field, Pa., generally known as the Big Crossings, then regarded as the longest span of that con- struction in existence. A formal opening, with appropriate ceremonies, was determined upon by the government officials and when the time for this arrived, a number of them were present to take part therein. All was ready for the pro- ceedings, but to inake sure that they would take place without accident, Mr. Shriver took a heavy hammer and after all the others had retired for the night, by the help of a candle clambered up among the timbers composing the false work which was to be removed as the preliminary act of the ceremonies, and with some heavy blows, loosened the wedges which held it in position. If the masonry had been faulty enough to have fallen without the support of the false work he would have been" crushed and he alone would have suffered from the accident, but all was secure and after tightening up the wedges he re- tired to his quarters assured that the proceedings of the next day would not be marred by any mishap from that direction. When the ceremo- nies began, his orders for the removal of the false work were given with an air of confidence in his work that gave much zest to the occasion. The bridge is still standing (1897) and in 'a good state of preservation-a lasting monument to his engineering skill.
After this he was commissioned by the govern-
ment to make the surveys for the extension of the National Road beyond Wheeling to St. Louis, Mo. This office he subsequently resigned, and was then appointed by the President, with General Bernard and Colonel McCrea, commissioner of public works; in this relation he continued for some time in government service. On retiring from this office he changed his residence from Wheeling to Cumberland, where he engaged in business and was mainly instrumental in the re- establishment of the Cumberland Bank of Alle- ghany, of which he was made president, serving in this capacity until the time of his death.
He was remarkable for his varied attainments, especially in the profession of civil engineering, to which he had devoted the greater part of his life. He was brought in contact, in his official relations, with many of the prominent men of the day and was thus enabled to obtain a store of information which gave zest to his social inter- course.
He served in early life with ability as a men- ber of the House of Delegates of Maryland for Frederick County and also filled a number of minor public offices. To sum up this brief period, he was a devoted husband and father, a firm friend, a most useful citizen and an eminent patriot.
His children were: Jacob Sherman, Elizabeth, (who married Hon. Andrew Stewart, of Union- town, Pa.), William Wagoner and George. The sons became residents of Wheeling, Va., and the daughter a resident of Uniontown, Pa.
UDGE ABRAHAM SHRIVER, the third son of David Shriver, Sr., was born at the old homestead, Little Pipe Creek, Md. He married Ann Margaret, a daughter of Henry Leatherman, of Frederick County, Md. In early life he enjoyed, as common to the family, the advantages of a practical knowledge of business.
He had some experience as a farmer, also in the mercantile business, in which he was engaged
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for a time in Frederick. At the time of the opposition. But irreproachable in private life, leaving no one behind him who can tell aught of wrong that he has suffered at his hands, if in his official capacity he had ever swerved a hand's breadth from judicial duty, it has been in leaning to mercy's side in protecting the humble and de- fenseless. establishment of the present judicial system he was appointed to the office of associate judge of the Fifth Judicial District of Maryland. This was in 1805, and he continued to serve in this capacity until 1843, a period of nearly forty years. The duties of the office were discharged by him with distinguished ability. He was remarkable "No truer friend to those suffering from every form of human oppression ever lived than this son of a sire, who was marked for Tory vengeance at the epoch of the Revolution. If there was any fanaticism in his character, it was in his zeal- ous sympathy with those who fought against for the inflexibility and uprightness of his char- acter, and clearness and strength of his mind. These characteristics imparted to his decisions great weight and inspired confidence in the per- formance of his official duties. The failure of his eyesight necessitated his retiring from the oppression wherever the flag of freedom was un-
bench several years prior to his decease. Total blindness followed, but notwithstanding this sad calamity a well-balanced mind, a life well spent and a constitution well fortified by temperate habits enabled him to maintain good health and spirits to the time of his death, which occurred at his home, attended by his devoted family, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
The following notice of the event will show the estimate formed of his character and public services: ""For nearly forty years Judge Shriver discharged the duties of associate judge of this judicial district with great ability and faithful- ness. Not having the advantages of a thorough legal preparation for the office, he rose in a short time by his natural talents and attention to the duties of office to a position of eminence. He was respected for the simplicity of his character by the masses of people, which is the best evidence of his merits. He was strictly impartial in the administration of justice on the bench, and he gave the weight of his character in favor of the cause of the truth in which he firmly believed. Strong in his attachment, he was faithful to his friends; open and manly in his opposition he was to his adversaries, and if he did a wrong it was the result of error of judgment and not a fault of the heart.
"Judge Shriver was a man of open bluntness, of strong impulses and stern will. It was not in the nature of things that one to whom nature had imparted such strong lineaments of character should pass through life without encountering
furled.
"Judge Shriver was one of the original founders of the Democratic party in this section of the state, and to the principles of that party he re- mained firmly and warmly devoted to his dying hour."
The political issues of the day received his studious attention, and his views on topics of in- terest were frequently given to the public through the press. His correspondence on matters of government policy was also extensive, such men of note as Hon. William Pinkney, and later in his life Chief Justice Rodger B. Taney, being among his intimate friends and correspondents.
His interest in his ancestry is shown in the care taken by him to collect and record the facts pertaining to their history. In the domestic circle his virtues were especially marked with constancy and devotion. Ann Margaret Shriver, wife of Judge Shriver, was ardently attached to her family, to whom she unstintedly gave her time and attention in ministering to their comfort. Their children were: David Ferree, Juliana, Ann Margaret, Mary, Edward, Ellenor, Charles and Wilhelm Eltinge. David Ferree and Juliana died in infancy. Ann Margaret Shriver, second daughter of Judge Shriver, married Charles A. Gambrill, and left a daughter named Ann Mar- garet. Mr. Gambrill founded the milling busi- ness at Baltimore, firm name of Charles A. Gambrill & Co. The business is still conducted by his descendants by a second marriage, and continues to be as formerly the largest flouring
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interest in the state. Mary Shriver, the third daughter of Judge Shriver, married Charles Wilson, a merchant of Baltimore; they had four children: Abraham, Mary, Charles and Ann Margaret.
Gen. Edward Shriver, son of Judge Shriver, was born at Frederick, Md. He married Eliza- beth Lydia, daughter of Philip Reigart. General Shriver was educated for the law, and practiced at the Frederick bar for some years. His resi- dence was at Frederick, and later in Baltimore. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was in sym- pathy with the government, and was called by Governor Bradford to aid him in furnishing men in response to the demand of the general govern- ment for the state's quota, to serve in the United States army for the defense of the union of the states. He also served under the appointment of General Bradford as judge advocate general of the court for the protection of the citizens of Maryland who had been subject to draft from previ- ous service. He had part also in the civil affairs of the state and general government, having been chosen to the state legislature in 1843, 1844 and 1845. He was twice tendered the office of secretary of state, first by Gov. Frank Thomas, in 1844, and afterwards by Gov. E. Louis Lowe, in 1851. He was a member of the reform con- vention of the state, which met in 1850. Clerk of the circuit court of Frederick County, 1851-57; a member of the board of public works, 1862-65; postmaster at Baltimore under the administration of President Johnson, 1866-69, and registrar of the water department, Baltimore, 1882-88.
General Shriver had four daughters. Ann Albertine, his eldest daughter, married Col. John A. Tomkins, late of the United States army. Mary Margaret, his second daughter, married Chapman L. Johnson, of Virginia. Ellen Emeline, his third daughter, married Dr. Robert B. Tyler, of Frederick, Md. Elizabeth S., his fourth daughter, married Charles D. Reifsnider, of Frederick, Md.
Ellenor Shriver, fourth and youngest daughter of Judge Shriver, married John H. Williams, of Frederick, Md. Mr. Williams was for a number of years president of the Frederick County Bank,
and is a highly respected member of the com- munity. They have two children, Henry and Margaret Jane. Charles Shriver, son of the judge, married Ann Eliza Thomas, and died young, leaving one son, Charles Eltinge. Wil- heim Eltinge Shriver, the youngest son of Judge Shriver, married Cornelia Pullin; he died young and left one child, a daughter, Ellenor.
Judge Shriver and family were members of the Reformed Church. In later years some of the members were connected with the Presbyterian Church at Frederick, Md. It is to be regretted that the Shriver name in Judge Shriver's lineage will terminate in the present generation, General Shriver, of Baltimore, being the last male mem- ber of the branch of the name.
APT. THOMAS SHRIVER, the second son of Andrew Shriver, of Union Mills, Carroll County, Md., was born at the homestead, Little Pipe Creek, Md., September 2, 1789, and died in New York City August 19, 1879. He married Ann E. Sharp, of York, Pa.
He manifested, in an eminent degree, the char- acteristics peculiar to the family and was a self- taught and practical engineer, machinist and inventor. He was engaged in a number of en- terprises, some of which were quite successful. His first business engagement, about 1814, was at York, Pa. At this time the war with Great Britain occurred, and he enlisted and organized a company of volunteers for the defense of Balti- more, which he commanded at the battle of North Point, thus earning the title of captain.
In 1818 he located at Sandy Mount, on the Reisterstown pike, eighteen miles from Baltimore. He improved the property by the erection of several buildings, among others a saw mill, which was run by horse-power. While at Sandy Mount he conceived the idea of an improvement in carriage springs and built for himself a carriage to which he applied the invention as an experi- ment. This was the origin, as he claimed, of the
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invaluable elliptic spring now so generally in use, by the varying fortunes of life. If his efforts though he never applied for a patent.
In 1826 he removed from Sandy Mount to Frederick, where he was interested in an effort to introduce water into the city from the mountain springs near by. Thence he removed to Frank- lin, a village near Baltimore, and was associated with a company of gentlemen having in view the improvement of that place, superintending the location and construction of the Franklin turn- pike, etc. He was also interested, about this time, in consort with his brother, Joseph Shriver, in prospecting the route for the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, south of the Susquehanna, the result being the adoption of plans submitted by them for crossing the Gun- powder and Bush Rivers in the use of pile bridges.
In 1834 he removed to Cumberland and secured an interest in the Good Intent Stage Company, carrying mail and passengers between Cumber- land and Wheeling, Va. While thus occupied he invented the bow spring, which was applied to the coaches. He was chosen mayor of Cumber- land several terms, from 1844 to 1850, and gave much attention to the improvement of the streets, personally superintending the grading and paving. After the extension of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad west of Cumberland, staging was discontinued on the National Road. He then organized a company for the construction of a plank road from Cumberland to West Newton, Pa., via the old Somerset Road. The Youghiogheny River was improved for slack-water navigation, and a steam-boat, the Thomas Shriver, plied daily between West Newton and Pittsburgh, con- necting with the stage line. The effort to com- pete in this way by rapid transit with the railroad was not successful, but it shows his indomitable energy and enterprise. In 1853 he started an omnibus line in Philadelphia, Pa., and continued it until bought out by a passenger railway com- pany. He then removed to New York, becoming one of the firm of T. Shriver & Co., founders, which connection he sustained to the close of his life.
Thomas Shriver was naturally of buoyant spirits and, consequently, was but little affected
proved unsatisfactory in results, nothing daunted, he turned his attention to new fields of enterprise until he achieved success. His practical experi- ence enabled him to counsel wisely, and he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to those deemed worthy of his confidence.
He affiliated politically with the Whig party and took a lively interest in the campaigns of 1840, 44 and '48, when Gen. W. H. Harrison, Henry Clay and Gen. Zachary Taylor were successively candidates for the Presidency. The big ball, which he improvised upon the occasion of the Harrison Ratification Convention and Proces- sion, Baltimore (1840), was a unique feature of that memorable campaign and elicited rounds of applause as it was rolled by the Allegany Moun- tain boys, decked in their hunting shirts and coon skin caps, through the streets. At the inauguration of General Taylor, Thomas Shriver was one of his escorts to the seat of government. A lady, who lived upon the route, though a stranger at the time to Mr. Shriver, says that she remembers him well and thought he was better qualified from what she saw of him to represent the nation at Washington than was the eminent personage he was escorting, a merited compli- ment to his genial and courteous manner.
Thomas Shriver reached the rare age of ninety years, retaining in good measure his physical and mental vigor until near the close of his life, which was due, as has been remarked, to his temperate habits in eating and drinking, using neither ardent spirits nor tobacco.
Ann E. Shriver, his wife, was born at Lan- caster, Pa., and resided, when married, at York, Pa. She was a lady of culture and refinement, a devoted wife and mother, and a devout Christian. She was a member of the Episcopal Church, in which communion she was joined by her husband and reared her children. George Sharp, her brother, edited the Citizen, Frederick, Md., a journal of considerable influence at that time in the state. The children of Thomas Shriver and Ann E., his wife, were Ann, Edwin Thomas, Ellen, Alfred, Ann Elizabeth, Howard, Walter, Hervey, Mary and Mary Frances.
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AMES SHRIVER, the third son of Andrew Shriver, of Union Mills, was born at Littles- town, Pa., and was baptized by Rev. Mr. Kopright; sponsors mother and father. He at- tained manhood at the family residence, Union Mills. His native intelligence was improved by a fair English education, and being qualified for the position, his Uncle David appointed him his assistant in the location and construction of the national road from Cumberland to Wheeling. In 1824 he accepted a position tendered him by a gentleman interested in the project to make pre- liminary surveys for the contemplated Chesa- peake & Ohio Canal. He prepared a map and gave a summary of estimates and other matters relative to the subject which he had published, and gave a decided impulse to the project.
Hon. Andrew Stewart, M. C., at the time one of the foremost advocates for the construction of the canal, in an address delivered at Smithfield, Pa., July 4, 1825, said: "I found Mr. James Shriver occupied in selecting material on the subject. We repaired to Summit Level, where Mr. Shriver remained some time until he collected material for the work which he has since pub- lished, and this work gave the first great impulse to his movement. It was the result of these sur- veys which Mr. Shriver exhibited in person at the Canal Convention in Washington which re- moved all doubt as to the practicability of the born at Uniontown, Pa. Her father, John Miller, work."
In the year 1885 he was appointed by the gov- ernor chief of brigade of engineers to survey lo- cation of mountain division of canal. While thus engaged. Hon. John C. Calhoun, secretary of war, spent some time in encampment with the brigade, thus evincing the government's interests in the work. After completion of these surveys Mr. Shriver was further commissioned (1826) by the government to make surveys for the Wabash Canal, Indiana, and while engaged in this work in the month of August he was taken ill with typhus fever and died at Fort Wayne. The Brookville (Ind. ) Repository referred to the event: " Mr. Shriver was a useful citizen and one of the most important, active and efficient agents of the government in the system of internal improve-
ment now in progress. His scientific attainments were not ordinary. In the death of such a man it may well be said we have lost a useful citizen and the government a valuable public officer." The funeral obsequies were in character with the foregoing estimate of Mr. Shriver's public serv- ices. General Tipton, the commander of the fort, the members of brigade of engineers, the Fort Wayne Masonic fraternity, citizens and In- dians participated in ceremonies of sepulture, evi- dencing their grief and respect for the deceased. A member of the brigade, in a letter of condolence to his friends, says: "I am certain no man ever had more attentive friends about him than Mr. Shriver: Mr. Moore, Mr. Stewart, Stansbury- Smith ( Morris was ill) Jackman, Dr. Cushman, his physician; in fact, all were unceasing in at- tentions." The interment was in the "public burial ground near a small church of the river." Meui- bers of the brigade subsequently convened and took action expressive of their deep sense of loss in the death of their chief.
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